BARNACLE GEESE GOOSE BARNACLES. 305 



saw on the shore in the Western Islands of Scotland, and 

 which had become so dry that many of the Barnacle shells 

 with which it had been covered had been rubbed off, he 

 says : 



" Only on the parts that lay next the ground there still hung 

 multitudes of little Shells, having within them little Birds, perfectly 

 shap'd, supposed to be Barnacles. The Shells hung very thick and 

 close one by another, and were of different sizes. Of the colour and 

 consistence of Muscle-Shells, and the sides and joynts of them joyned 

 with such a kind of film as Muscle-Shells are, which serves them for a 

 King to move upon, when they open and shut. . . . The Shells hang at 

 the Tree by a Neck longer than the Shell, of a kind of Filmy 

 substance, round, and hollow, and creased, not unlike the Wind-pipe 

 of a chicken, spreading out broadest where it is fastened to the Tree, 

 from which it seems to draw and convey the matter which serves for 

 the growth and vegetation of the Shell and the little Bird within it. 

 This Bird in every Shell that I opened, as well the least as the biggest, 

 I found so curiously and compleatly formed, that there appeared 

 nothing wanting as to internal parts, for making up a perfect Sea- 

 fowl : every little part appearing so distinctly that the whole looked 

 like a large Bird seen through a concave or diminishing glass, colour 

 and feature being everywhere so clear and neat. The little Bill, like 

 that of a Goose ; the eyes marked ; the Head, Neck, Breast, Wings, 

 Tail, and Feet formed, the Feathers everywhere perfectly shap'd, and 

 blackish coloured ; and the Feet like those of other Water-fowl, to my 

 best remembrance. All being dead and dry, J did not look after the 

 internal parts of them. Nor did I ever see any of the little Birds alive, 

 nor met with anybody that did. Only some credible persons have 

 assured me they have seen some as big as their fist." 



It seems almost incredible that little more than two 

 hundred years ago this twaddle should not only have been 

 laid before the highest representatives of science in the 

 land, but that it should have been printed in their " Trans- 

 actions " for the further delusion of posterity.* Dr. Tancred 



* Sir Robert Moray seems to have been fond of marvels. In 

 Birch's ' History of the Royal Society ' (vol. ii. p. 41) we find the 

 following entry relative to a meeting of the Society held April 26th, 



VOL. III. H. X 



